Happy New Year! 2016 brings us Les Habs in the Winter Classic. The Boston Bruins are hosting the game in the football stadium in Foxborough instead of the more ideal choice of the baseball stadium in Boston. NBC carries the game in the United States while Rogers Sportsnet takes over for the CBC for the Winter Classic.
The NBC Group isn't done with the Canadiens after the Winter Classic. NBCSN will show Montréal in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
What you need to know for the 2016 Winter Classic
The NHL Network blows off Hockey Night in Canada but comes back with Hometown Hockey from Thunder Bay, Ontario as the Ottawa Senators are in Chicago with the Rogers Sportsnet feed. The game will be blacked out for your humble narrator but we finally get a pregame in the States.
The CBC won't get to carry Friday's game but the Saturday doubleheader starts at the Air Canada Centre as the Toronto Maple Leafs host the St. Louis Blues. City TV will simulcast the CBC feed for the early game. The Calgary Flames travel to Denver to go against their former star Jarome Iginla and the Avalanche in the CBC late game.
Besides the 2016 Winter Classic, Rogers Sportsnet carries the West Side Story saga with the Jets and Sharks late on Saturday night and the Hometown Hockey game Sunday night. The Wednesday night game has New Jersey in Montréal.
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NBC
Friday
Montréal @ Boston, 1p
NBCSN
Tuesday
Montréal @ Philadelphia, 7:30p
NHL Network
Sunday
Ottawa @ Chicago, 7p
Tape delayed
Wednesday Montréal @ Philadelphia, 2p
Thursday New Jersey @ Montréal, 2p
CBC
Saturday
St. Louis @ Toronto, 7p
Calgary @ Colorado, 10p
City
Saturday
St. Louis @ Toronto, 7p
Rogers Sportsnet
Friday
Montréal @ Boston, 1p
Saturday
Winnipeg @ San Jose, 10p
Sunday
Ottawa @ Chicago, 7p
Wednesday
New Jersey @ Montréal, 7p
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Except for the U.S. commercials, the experience felt like a game on NHL Center Ice. A Calgary home game, complete with Rogers Sportsnet pregame and intermissions. But this game last night actually aired on the NHL Network.
We've been covering this beat since 2010 and this was the first full game from the Scotiabank Saddledome on U.S. television. When we started covering this beat, we could get late night Hockey Night in Canada games, even if they didn't originate from Alberta. We sometimes would get games involving Alberta teams on the NHL Network, but way too often those games would be cancelled. Edmonton and Calgary would often have their single yearly telecast, always on the road, cancelled at the last minute.
March 23, 2015 was going to be the end of the streak of the NHL Network refusing to carry a live game from Alberta. Colorado was at Calgary, a crucial game in the playoff chase. The NHL Network cancelled the telecast and ran studio programming in the timeslot.
As we've noted in previous coverage, the last live game from Alberta was November 25, 2010 when the NHL Network carried Colorado at Edmonton from the TSN feed. Yes, the 2011 Heritage Classic was in Alberta, but that was a required telecast and that aired on NBCSN.
NHL Network afraid to carry a live NHL game in Alberta
NBC jumping in to produce playoff games from Calgary last spring filled us with a mix of emotions. Thrilled to see the network finally pay attention to the Calgary Flames, but blew off Canadian productions of playoff games for significantly inferior coverage (no offense, Chris Cuthbert). Show that attention in the regular season and we'll be far more impressed.
The NHL Network did show the 3rd period of the Battle of Alberta from Calgary on Sunday. While this was only the 3rd period, the images were highly unusual on the NHL Network. Rare that either team from Alberta would be on a live game, and even more rare to have a live game in Alberta.
The host, leading into the 3rd period coverage, was excited about the Battle of Alberta. His bosses don't share that enthusiasm. Since we have been following this beat, the Battle of Alberta has never aired in full on the NHL Network.
The channel's 3rd period late night experiment has brought new teams and players to live TV in the States. The next step is to also show the 1st and 2nd periods, too.
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Figure that the #3 Rogers crew called the Habs game Saturday night, while the #3 NBCSN crew called the Habs game the previous Tuesday. Brian Boucher put Montréal's scoring drought on P.K. Subban and Max Pacioretty because NBC thinks that the only Canadiens U.S. fans would know. The Canadian crew put the scoring drought on several players. In Canada, they tell you what is happening. In U.S., they are afraid to tell you the full story because you might be confused.
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Glenn Healy and Garry Galley talked about the difficulties of traveling on Boxing Day. We saw how the Canadiens equipment arrived late, and how starting goalie Mike Condon was carrying his own equipment. The team also had to clear customs; Healy said "clear waivers," which is funnier than the actual answer. This is the type of detail you will never find on a NBC telecast.
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"Coach's Corner on Hockey Night in Canada on CBC" was the traditional signoff of the program. Ron MacLean has been good at sticking to the Rogers script. This past Saturday, MacLean switched back to the old signoff. The segment didn't air on Rogers Sportsnet this week, but did air on City TV. We know it was an accident but we appreciated the accident.
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The CBC promos reflected the last remaining holiday specials and the new shows on the upcoming winter schedule. The early game also aired on City TV, making the CBC promos a bit awkward. The final period of the Oilers-Canucks aired live on the NHL Network.
Lots of interesting winter shows to promote — Schitt's Creek anyone — but the CBC is using the promos for new shows. Jekyll & Hyde is a short-term, non-Canadian program and Hello Goodbye isn't likely to last more than a season. The early game only had a single promo in the 3rd period.
Early game: Hello Goodbye; Toy Story 3 (1st); Hello Goodbye; Air Farce New Year's Eve 2015 (2nd); Jekyll & Hyde (3rd).
Late game: Air Farce New Year's Eve 2015; Jekyll & Hyde (3rd).
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There were no NHL Network matinee feeds due to the World Juniors tournament.
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